Feb. 1 (Bloomberg) -- Sofiproteol SA, France’s largest
oilseed crusher, and Bunge Ltd. each took full control of
biodiesel units of which they’d previously shared ownership
through joint venture Diester Industrie International, or DII.

Sofiproteol bought the joint venture’s Belgian unit Oleon
Biodiesel NV, while Bunge acquired biodiesel production units in
Austria and another in Germany from DII, the Paris-based company
wrote in an e-mailed statement today.

The joint venture’s biodiesel-production capacity will drop
to 700,000 metric tons from 1 million tons, according to
Sofiproteol. The French company owns 60 percent of the joint
venture, with Bunge holding the remaining 40 percent.

“This is an industrial optimization,” Catherine Bozon, a
spokeswoman for Sofiproteol, said by phone. “The idea is to
reduce our exposure to biodiesel, which is a difficult market.”
She declined to provide financial details.

Biodiesel is a transport fuel that can be produced from the
oil content of crops including rapeseed and soybeans.

The biodiesel unit in Belgium is integrated with an
industrial site owned by Sofiproteol, while Novaol Austria GmbH
and Mannheim Bio Fuel GmbH in Germany are linked to Bunge
oilseed-crushing sites, according to the French company.

DII will continue to own its Italian unit Novaol Srl as
well as 50 percent of the Germany company Natural Energy West,
Sofiproteol said.

Sofiproteol’s Diester Industry unit, created in 1992, has
another 2 million tons of biodiesel-manufacturing capacity in
addition to that of DII. The biodiesel unit had 2011 sales of
2.69 billion euros ($3.7 billion), according to Bozon.